UPDATE 3-Banks score major win in private Libor suits

NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - The world's biggest banks won
a major victory on Friday when a U.S. judge dismissed a
"substantial portion" of the claims in private lawsuits accusing
them of rigging global benchmark interest rates.

The 16 banks had faced claims totaling billions of dollars
in the case, which had been considered the biggest legal threat
that they faced aside from investigations being pursued by
regulators in the United States, Europe and Britain.

They had been accused by a diverse body of private
plaintiffs, ranging from bondholders to the city of Baltimore,
of conspiring to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate
(Libor), a key benchmark at the heart of more than $550 trillion
in financial products.

In a significant setback for the plaintiffs, U.S. District
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan granted the banks'
motion to dismiss federal antitrust claims and partially
dismissed the plaintiffs' claims of commodities manipulation.
She also dismissed racketeering and state-law claims.

Buchwald did allow a portion of the lawsuit to continue that
claims the banks' alleged manipulation of Libor harmed traders
who bet on interest rates. Small movements in those rates can
mean sizable gains or losses for those gambling on which way the
rates move.

The ruling comes at a time when the banking industry is
facing legal and regulatory challenges on multiple fronts,
including how they originated and sold mortgage loans, as well
as questions of whether some have become so big they pose a
systemic risk to the global financial system.
Continued...